President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky has emphasized the need to strengthen sanctions against Russia and noted that some Austrian businesses continue to work in the Russian Federation.
He said this at a joint press conference with President of Austria Alexander Van der Bellen in Kyiv.
“We discussed in detail the cooperation of our states at the level of the European Union, and I emphasized the need for further strengthening of sanctions against Russia. Our team stressed that the terrorist state must feel the price for its terror and the real limitation of its ability to continue this war, this aggression. And in this context, we note the situation concerning Austrian businesses. There are some of them which, despite the terrible Russian terror, are not leaving Russia, continue to support the terrorist state, we believe, with own taxes. And therefore, we are very interested in these businesses to go to Ukraine instead, we want to discuss this issue at the systemic level. And we will talk about this today,” Zelensky said.
In particular, he cited the example of Raiffeisen Bank, “which not only works in Russia, but also approves decisions, such as tax holidays for those mobilized in the Russian army.”
“We believe that this is unacceptable in today’s realities. We call on the Austrian side to make every effort so that individual companies do not betray Austrian society. I believe that this important issue, like many others, will be resolved on the basis of common values of freedom, democracy, the rule of law and human rights,” Zelensky said. (Ukrinform/Business World Magazine)